Praise, My Soul, The King Of Heaven
Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven
Praise, my soul, the King of heaven,
To His feet thy tribute bring;
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
Evermore His praises sing.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Praise the everlasting King.
Praise Him for His grace and favor
To our fathers in distress;
Praise Him, still the same as ever,
Slow to chide, and swift to bless,
Alleluia! Alleluia! Glorious in His faithfulness.
Fatherlike, He tends and spares us;
Well our feeble frame He knows;
In His hands He gently bears us,
Rescues us from all our foes.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Widely yet His mercy flows.
Angels in the height, adore Him;
Ye behold Him face to face;
Saints triumphant, bow before Him,
Gathered in from every race.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Praise with us the God of grace.
IN 1834 the British clergyman Henry Francis Lyte published a collection of 280 hymns based on the book of Psalms. He called it The Spirit of the Psalms because these hymns were not strictly translations (like the old psalters still in use at that time) or even paraphrases (like much of Isaac Watts’s work), but texts loosely inspired by the psalms. This hymn was included as a development of Psalm 103. There are many points of comparison.
The psalmist urges us not to forget the Lord’s benefits; Lyte lists those benefits—“ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven.” And as the psalmist indicates that God is “slow to chide,” Lyte adds that he is also “swift to bless.”
Queen Elizabeth II chose this hymn to be sung at her wedding in 1947. It is an apt song for any occasion, as we join our voices in this great “Alleluia!”
Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.
Psalm 103:1-3
From the book
